“I understand your position,” Hawk said. “You need to get your men back to Fort Ellis. But I don’t need to get back there. Hell, I’ve already been fired, anyway, so I think I’ll get back on that trail I just left and see if I can find those bastards. Then maybe I can tell somebody, either the military or the marshal service, where to look for ’em.” He paused when Conner’s reaction to his proposal didn’t seem positive. “You don’t need me to get you home,” Hawk went on. “The way I figure it, you ain’t but about a day’s ride to Great Falls, almost straight south from where you are right now, and you know how to get to Ellis from there. As a matter of fact, I remember crossin’ a north–south trail a few miles short of here, looked like an old Indian trail. I’d say it’s a good chance it would take you right to Great Falls. If you’re runnin’ short of food, I’ve seen plenty of sign of deer and antelope at just about every place I’ve camped. Corporal Johnson is always itchin’ to go huntin’. You could let him find a deer or something.”

Conner shook his head as if amazed. “You really wanna find those outlaws that bad?” Hawk shrugged in response. “I hope you’ve got better sense than to try to take any action against them.”

“I don’t plan to,” Hawk said. “I just wanna find out where they’re holed up, so a posse can go after ’em. It’d be a damn sin to let men like that get away with what they did.”

Conner hesitated, taking a long moment to study his friend’s face. He was somewhat surprised by the compassion shown by the normally imperturbable scout and was feeling some guilt about the position he felt he had to take. “All right, if you feel that’s what you need to do,” Conner said. “I’m gonna turn back to Fort Ellis. I wish you good luck in scouting those killers, but damn it, Hawk, be careful they don’t add you to the list of people they’ve already slaughtered.” Hawk nodded in response and Conner asked, “You gonna start back right away, or do you need to rest your horse?”

“My horse is all right, but I’m gonna boil me a little coffee and chew on some bacon, since I see you ain’t put out all your fires yet.”

“I’ll have a cup with you,” Conner said, and told Johnson to hold up on the order to mount.

* * *